I Love You, You Hate Me

Upon viewing the first episode , I found my self in tears. Being born in 1999, Barney was the show that I was stuck to as early as I can remember . The guest speakers were a very pleasant surprise and added great composition to the series. I do however wish that the series could have been longer and included more flashback from the series and behind the scenes intel. Also, the series could have touched on the role that early YouTube played into this barney hating phenomenon. This series was created exactly for its targeted audience and succeeded in the raw feelings of nostalgia and childhood!!

I admit, for about 20 years I was a Barney "hater". The toxic discourse around the beloved children's character in the 1990s and 2000s was waiting for me when I grew out of the franchise ... and from there I believed many mistruths that left indelible stains on an otherwise golden legacy of entertaining and educating children worldwide.

I eventually grew out of my misdirected disrespect and I wondered why Barney was such a viscerally hated character. There were no definitive answers ... until this documentary dropped on Peacock.

The documentary does a valiant job entertaining some of the reasons why Barney endured some of the most intense wrath hurled from all corners of society - from toxic masculinity to some of the haters' own self-hatred. Unfortunately, the 60-minute two-episode format doesn't lend itself well to the material. A lot of valuable information is either truncated or left out. Some 45 interviews were conducted for the documentary and key people associated with the franchise had to be cut. With a longer series, some interesting perspectives could have been explored in more intricate detail.

However, there are some gems in the docuseries - lots of never-before-seen behind the scenes footage is a delight to witness for fans and people who are Barney-curious. Some of the cast and crew give a good insight into the production and we get to hear some interesting stories.

All in all, worth a watch, but be prepared to feel some frustration at some questions that are still left unanswered at the conclusion of Part 2.

This documentary starts off talking about who Barney is, how he came about and why he came about, we can thank Ms. Sheryl Leach for that... It talks about the significance he had upon children and their lives... the lessons he taught and especially the love that he shows. It then goes to talk about the backlash that came with Barney, the people who hated him for absolutely absurd reasonings, but everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess... With the help of many old cast members, Barney's voice and body actors, and many other people and celebs, they get together to share the true story of who Barney is and what exactly he stood for...

We don't live in a "Barney world" and it sucks because us as humans were the problem back then and we're the problem at this very moment. If everyone had a "Barney spirit," this world would be a remarkable one and I truly believe that, that was Barney's true message... Being able to make the world a better place because we WANT to...

Go Watch on Peacock!!!!

Having grown up watching and loving Barney, I was completely unaware of the negative reactions. I was also unaware of the group that hated Barney. Great video with interviews and the cast. Recommend it, highly. I think this is something that should be watched by anyone who knows Barney, no matter how they feel about him. Seeing both sides really opened my eyes and deepened my love for Barney at the same time. I only wish that this had been made sooner. It was interesting (and sad) to see what happened to the family that created Barney. Nonetheless, this is a documentary I'll be watching again quite a few times.

Going into this, I thought it would be just an interesting dive into the origins of Barney and the armies of annoyed grown-ups which resulted. What this truly is is an examination of the hearts of people and how the worst of us find reasons to hate and trample things we don't understand. Adults fostered an unnecessary hatred for a fictional entity when no one ever forced them to turn the channel and watch Barney. I was entering high school when I first heard of Barney so it didn't appeal to me. Even though I found it a bit annoying, I knew I all I had to do was not watch it. I had the same attitude toward Harry Potter. I wasn't militantly against kids reading stories about witchcraft but it just did not appeal to me.

This mini-series highlights the bad attitudes grown people had towards Barney as well as the urban legends that went with them. Barney taught children many important things in life such as love, caring, and unselfishness and this doc reminds us that something so pure can make people look for hidden evil even if it isn't there. The most gripping point of this documentary is when Steven from Blues Clues looks at the camera and asks "Who was your Barney?" Many of us had a Barney growing up whether or not it was Barney himself. I pity those who didn't.